UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION. 
BERKELEY,    CAL. 


B.  W.  HILGARD,  Director.  BULLETIN  No.  111. 


The  Work  of  the  College  of  Agriculture, 

AND  EXPERIMENT    STATIONS. 

SEPTEMBER,    1896. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE; 

AND  EXPERIMENT  STATIONS. 
By  E.  W.  Hilgard. 


One  of  the  chief  difficulties  under  which  the  College  of  Agriculture 
at  Berkeley  labors  is  the  lack  of  acquaintance  of  the  farming  popula- 
tion with  it.  The  most  unfounded  impressions  and  aspersions  upon  its 
work  sometimes  gain  circulation  and  credence  among  them;  hence,  it  is 
thought  advisable  at  this  time  to  go  somewhat  into  detail  in  presenting 
to  the  public  the  various  features  of  our  work,  and  the  methods  we 
pursue  in  making  it  available  and  practicably  useful  to  the  farmer. 

u  work  is  of  a  twofold  nature:  instruction  and  experimentation.  A 
third  topic  might  be  added,  intimately  connected  with  the  others:  The 
ascertainment  of  the  agricultural  features  of  the  State,  or  what,  if  it 
were  organized  independently,  would  be  called  an  agricultural  survey. 


WORK  OF  INSTRUCTION. 

As  to  instruction,  we  are  prepared  to  give  it,  and  do  give  it,  in  three 
different  way 

1.  By  lectures  and  practical  exercises — "laboratory  work"— to  stu- 
dents in  the  University: 

2.  Lectures  to  farmers'  meetings,  or  "  Institutes,"  at  different  points 
in  the  State: 

By  an  extended  correspondence,  mostly  in  reply  to  questions  asked 
by  farmers,  for  information  or  advice.  This  part  of  our  work  is  inti- 
mately connected  with  that  of  experimentation;  and  it  may  be  said  right 
here  that  it  is  perhaps  the  most  laborious  part,  involving  the  writing, 
annually,  of  from  five  to  six  thousand  letters,  many  of  which  require  pro- 
longed research.  They  occupy  a  large  share  of  the  Director's  personal 
time. 

UNIVERSITY    COURSES. 

Now,  as  to  our  University  courses:  We  think  we  offer  at  Berkeley  the 
kind  of  instruction  most  needed  by  our  young  men.  We  do  not  pretend 
-  -  aeh  them  the  actual  operation  of  plowing  and  hoeing  by  making 
them  work;  we  think  they  either  know  how  to  do  that  already,  or  can 
learn  it  in  a  few  days  when  they  return  to  the  farm.  What  we  do  teach 
them  is,  why  to  plow  and  hoe  at  all,  and  how  and  when  to  do  it  to  the 

-  advantage.  That  is,  we  teach  them  the  principles  on  which  they 
must  base  all  their  farm  work,  in  order  to  compete  successfully  in  the 
hot  race  that  is  now  on  in  agriculture,  as  well  as  in  all  industries,  between 

*  Revised  from  lectures  delivered  at  various  Farmers'  Institutes. 


—  4  — 

the  most  remote  regions  of  the  globe.  The  time  is  past  when  mere  hard 
work  without  the  use  of  brains  will  command  success.  Hard  work  is 
still  needed  as  much  as  ever,  but  it  needs  to  be  shaped  so  as  to  be  done 
to  the  best  possible  advantage. 

We  are  well  equipped  and  officered  for  most  of  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion; what  we  lack  is  not  there  because  we  have  not  had  the  demand 
justifying  the  expenditure.  However,  the  only  important  department 
not  provided  for  at  Berkeley  is  veterinary  science,  and  that  will  doubt- 
less be  rilled  so  soon  as  any  demand  arises.  A  veterinary  college  affili- 
ated with  the  University  exists  at  San  Francisco. 

Student  Labor. — Some  may  differ  with  us  on  this  point,  and  think  we 
ought  to  put  the  boys  into  what  would  be  called  practical  work,  as  is 
done  in  trade  schools.  The  trouble  is  that  the  farmer's  trade,  irhlike 
the  carpenter's  or  blacksmith's,  must  be  varied  from  place  to  place,  and 
that  sleight-of-hand  is  the  least  part  of  his  difficulties.  Soils  and 
climates  vary  infinitely  more  than  do  woods  or  metals;  it  takes  an  edu- 
cated judgment  to  deal  with  the  former,  and  that  judgment  must  either 
be  acquired  locally  by  long  and  costly  experience,  or  it  must  be  imparted 
by  education.  In  the  old  countries,  until  recently,  the  experience  of 
the  forefathers  was  enough;  at  present  that  experience  has  largely 
become  worthless,  on  account  of  the  keen  competition  of  all  the  world, 
now  connected  by  means  of  steam  and  electricity. 

Here  in  California  we  have  not  even  the  forefathers'  experience  to  go 
upon;  it  is  therefore  doubly  necessary  that  we  should  possess  ourselves 
of  the  principles  upon  which  we  must  depend  in  order  to  deal  with  the 
facts  as  we  find  them  in  a  new  country. 

Some  imagine  that  actual  farm  work  is  omitted  from  our  program 
because  of  prejudice  on  the  part  of  students  against  such  work.  On  the 
contrary,  we  continually  have  more  applications  for  paid  work  from 
students  of  all  departments  than  we  can  possibly  employ;  a  student 
who  works  his  way  is  universally  respected  and  applauded.  No  such 
snobbishness  exists  at  the  University  of  California  in  these  days. 

But  the  fact  is  that  the  students  do  not  want,  if  they  can  help  it, 
to  spend  on  uninstructive  labor  the  time  allotted  them  for  their  educa- 
tion. Instructive  labor — such  as  is  needed  to  give  the  student  a  thorough 
understanding  and  some  practice  in  actual  manipulation,  say  in  graft- 
ing, beekeeping,  etc. — forms  part  of  our  courses.  The  time  given  by 
most  of  our  young  men  to  education  is  too  short  to  be  encroached  upon 
by  useless  mechanical  exercise.  , 

Attendance. — But  when  the  lecture  rooms  of  the  Agricultural  College 
are  but  partially  filled,  while  those  of  other  departments  are  overcrowded, 
we  can  hardly  wonder  that  the  Regents  hesitate  to  appropriate  more 
funds  toward  the  instruction  of  these  few.  That,  in  fact,  is  the  objec- 
tion we  have  to  contend  with,  year  after  year,  even  for  the  maintenance 
of  our  existing  staff  and  means  of  work.  We  are  naturally  told  that  it 
is  the  business  of  the  University,  first  of  all,  to  supply  the  actual  press- 
ing demand  for  education,  and  that  the  farmers  evidently  do  not  want 
special  training  for  their  sons. 

By  an  actual  record  of  intrants  giving  the  occupation  of  their  parents, 
it  appears  that  out  of  481  new  students  entering  in  1896,  85  are  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  farmers;  and  of  the  total,  3  have  entered  the  full  agri- 


_  5  — 

cultural  course,  and  2  as  special  students,  not  one  of  whom  is  a  farmer's 
son. 

The  allegation,  however,  that  only  two  or  three  students  are  taught  by 
the  staff  of  the  Agricultural  College,  is  a  gross  misrepresentation.  The 
actual  attendance  at  the  agricultural  courses  proper,  as  shown  by  our 
last  year's  class  rolls,  was  over  one  hundred.  Of  course,  several  times 
that  number  might  just  as  well  have  been  instructed,  for  the  labor  on 
the  part  of  the  instructor  is  just  the  same.  The  classes  under  agricul- 
tural instruction  are  largely  made  up  of  students  whose  chief  line  of 
study  is  in  other  departments,  to  which  they  are  therefore  credited  in 
the  annual  Register. 

On  this  question  of  attendance,  which  is  a  sore  point  in  all  agricul- 
tural colleges  in  the  United  States  when  their  bona  fide  agricultural 
graduates  are  counted,*  we  can  but  repeat  what  has  been  frequently 
expressed  in  word  and  print  heretofore;  namely,  that  so  long  as  our 
soils  continue  to  produce  remunerative  crops,  or  remain  productive 
without  imperative  need  of  fertilization,  rotation,  etc.,  and  new  lands 
remain  to  be  occupied,  the  attendance,  at  our  colleges,  of  farmers'  sons 
intending  to  return  to  the  farm  will  be  comparatively  slight;  but  as 
soon  as  the  shoe  begins  to  pinch,  and  intelligent  and  frugal  husbandry 
becomes  a  necessity,  our  agricultural  colleges  and  schools  will  receive  a 
correspondingly  increased  attendance.  The  beginning  in  such  a  move- 
ment is  already  seen  in  the  attendance,  as  special  students,  of  those  often 
of  mature  age,  who  intend  to  engage  in  agricultural  branches  requiring 
professional  information,  training  for  observation,  and  educated  judg- 
ment. It  is  the  absence  of  demand  for  agricultural  experts  in  this 
country  that  keeps  down  the  number  of  full-course  graduates  to  a  few 
persons  annually.  In  California,  however,  the  fact  that  investments  in 
orchards  and  vineyards  are  permanent  for  a  number  of  years  and  bring 
about  a  one-sided  wear  in  the  soil,  makes  it  necessary  to  work  on  rational 
lines  sooner  than  is  mostly  done  elsewhere.  Horticulture  requires  in 
an  eminent  degree  the  use  of  knowledge  and  brains,  and  it  is  from  horti- 
culturists that  most  of  our  students  now  f-QJfte.    - Al 

Besides,  the  large  area  of  the  State  and  its  indefinitely  varied  climates 
and  soils  call  for  the  exercise  of  an  a'WHTRJf  degree  of  judgment  and 
brains,  the  more*  as  in  a  great  number  of  cases  there  is  no  experience 
and  precedent  to  go  upon.  It  would  therefore  seem  especially  needful 
that  our  young  men  intending  to  be  farmers  should  be  trained  to  use 
all  the  resources  that  agricultural  science  places  at  their  command,  to 
save  themselves  from  costly  mistakes  in  their  practice. 

We  have  been  told  that  farmers  do  not  send  their  sons  because  they 
fear  they  will  be  "  educated  away  from  the  farm."  But  as  a  matter  of 
fact  a  very  large  proportion  of  our  University  students  are  farmers' 
sons,  as  already  shown;  and  they  are  sent  by  their  parents  to  other 
departments — literary,  scientific,  and  other  professional  courses — giving 
their  own  profession  the  go-by.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  tendency  of 
the  rural  population  toward  the  cities,  where  more  "  fun  "  and  (sup- 
posedly) less  hard  work  can  be  had  than  on  the  farm.     That  is  the 


*In  the  last  report  of  one  of  the  oldest  agricultural  colleges  in  the  United  States, 
established  purposely  at  a  distance  from  all  literary  institutions,  the  Professor  of  Agri- 
culture notes  as  a  marked  increase  over  former  years,  the  fact  that  three  freshmen  and 
three  sophomores  have  entered  and  are  now  in  the  regular  agricultural  course. 


6 

problem  all  the  world  over,  in  Europe  as  well  as  here.  It  certainly 
cannot  be  remedied  by  holding  the  boy's  "nose  to  the  grindstone," 
whether  at  home  or  in  college;  the  time  for  such  measures  has  gone  by. 
It  is  only  by  elevating  the  farmers'  pursuit  to  a  higher  plane,  both 
intellectually  and  (by  the  aid  of  such  associations  as  the  Grange  and 
Farmers'  Clubs)  socially,  that  the  current  will  ever  be  reversed. 

Conditions  of  Admission. — Some  say  that  we  have  made  the  conditions 
for  admission  too  high  for  the  preparation  that  the  farmers'  sons  are 
usually  able  to  obtain.  This  may  be  true  as  regards  what  we  call  our 
"regular"  course  which  leads  to  a  degree  ;  and  this  is  as  it  should  be, 
for  the  agricultural  teacher  and  expert,  for  whom  this  course  is  designed, 
must  of  necessity  have  a  good,  thorough  foundation  for  his  studies  and 
should  not  otherwise  have  a  University  degree.  But  these  requirements 
do  not  exclude  any  students  who  do  not  work  for  a  degree ;  these  can 
come  in  under  the  head  of  Special  Students  in  Agriculture,  and  the  sole 
condition  of  their  admission  is  that  they  shall  have  sufficient  prepara- 
tion to  profit  by  our  instruction,  and  that  they  shall  conduct  themselves 
properly  and  work  faithfully.  There  are  courses  enough  to  occupy  the 
full  time  of  such  students  for  two  years,  and  which  do  not  require  any 
very  extended  preparation,  and  can  be  taken  by  young  men  who  have 
had  a  grammar  school  training  and  some  experience  in  practical 
farming.  Very  young  untrained  boys  we  do  not  like  to  have  attend, 
because  we  cannot  undertake  to  take  care  of  them  among  so  many  as 
now  attend  the  University  ;  nor  can  they  usually  profit  adequately  by 
our  courses. 

Agricultural  Education  in  Europe.* — "As  an  object-lesson  in  this  mat- 
ter, let  us  consider  briefly  the  general  aspects  of  agricultural  education 
in  Europe.  We  there  find  that,  in  all  cases,  there  is  at  the  head  of  the 
system  one  or  more  departments  or  colleges  of  University  grade,  which 
educate  both  the  teachers  for  the  institutions  of  the  lower  grades,  and 
the  agricultural  experts  that  are  to  stand  at  the  head  of  large  estates, 
and  thus  lead  the  van  of  agricultural  progress  in  practice.  This 
appears  to  be  a  logically  necessary  function,  the  very  condition  prece- 
dent of  any  rational  agricultural  education  whatever.  Yet  this  has 
been  one  of  the  most  bitterly  contested  points  in  this  country,  so  that  in 
many  States  the  attempt  has  been  to  make  all  agricultural  instruction 
mainly  'practical,'  even  when  only  a  single  institution  could  be 
established  on  the  basis  of  the  available  funds.  I  think  experience  has 
shown  that  this  is  an  error;  that  instruction  of  the  highest  grade  for  the 
education  of  the  leaders  of  progress  is  the  true  function  of  a  State  college 
of  agriculture.  For  in  almost  every  case  the  colleges  whose  curriculum 
was  organized  on  the  proper  'practical'  plan  have,  in  the  course  of 
time,  been  compelled  to  raise  the  standards  to  a  higher  plane,  with  an 
obvious  tendency  to  place  them  on  a  University  grade. 

"To  discuss  the  propriety  or  relative  advantage  of  the  organic  con- 
nection of  the  agricultural  college  with  the  literary  and  scientific 
University  would  carry  us  beyond  the  limits  of  this  paper.  But  we  can- 
not reconcile  ourselves  to  the  thought  of  the  official  and  permanent 
recognition,  as  a  factor  in  shaping  our  educational  policy,  of  the  snob- 

*Revised  abstract  from  the  article  under  this  head  in  the  Report  of  the  College  of 
Agriculture  for  1892-93. 


—  7  — 

bishness  which  looks  down  upon  agriculture  as  a  vocation  of  inferior 
degree.  It  is  truly  remarkable  that  in  republican  America  prejudices 
should  be  allowed  a  foothold  which  even  in  monarchical  Germany  dare 
not  show  their  face.  The  strong  and  influential  representation  of  the 
agricultural  element  in  the  German  Reichstag  stands  in  marked  con- 
trast to  the  manner  in  which  the  farmers'  interests  are  made  to  take  a 
'back  seat'  in  our  legislative  assemblies;  not  so  much  because  farmers 
are  not  there,  but  rather  because  for  lack  of  training  they  cannot  make 
themselves  felt  as  against  their  well-equipped  competitors  of  the  politico- 
legal  profession.  It  is  only  by  correspondingly  thorough  training,  con- 
nected with  their  own  pursuit,  that  this  state  of  things  can  be  remedied. 

Lower-Grade  Agricultural  Schools. — "It  is  evident  that  it  will  belong 
before  the  mass  of  farmers  will  take  such  a  higher  course  of  education, 
even  if  it  were  possible  to  accommodate  the  rank  and  file  in  the  State 
Agricultural  College.  There  are  substantially  two  plans  upon  which 
such  instruction  in  the  principles  of  agriculture  as  it  is  possible  to 
impart  within  the  limited  time  usually  at  the  disposal  of  farmers'  sons 
can.  be  imparted.  One  is  the  plan  adopted  by  Germany,  of  separate 
institutions  on  a  lower  plane  than  the  State  college,  standing  substan- 
tially in  the  place  of  the  high  school  for  those  who  do  not  desire  the 
latter  kind  of  education.  The  other  is  the  system  adopted  by  France,  of 
making  instruction  in  agriculture  run  parallel  with  the  other  grades 
and  subjects  of  education,  throughout  the  public  school  course,  in  rural 
districts,  largely  by  'circuit-riding '  teachers  assigned  to  definite  districts. 

"  Even  the  latter  plan  would,  in  this  country,  encounter  almost  insuper- 
able difficulties  at  the  present  time,  in  the  lack  of  qualifications  for  such 
instruction  on  the  part  of  common-school  teachers,  and  the  scarcity 
even  of  qualified  special  teachers  in  this  line,  which  is  not  likely  to  be 
remedied  within  any  short  space  of  time.  Moreover,  it  is  apt  to  load 
down  too  much  the  already  crowded  curriculum  of  the  schools,  curtail- 
ing still  further  the  time  for  needful  general  culture.  In  my  view,  how- 
ever, the  establishment  of  a  sufficient  number  of  schools  corresponding 
to  the  second  grade  of  the  Prussian  system  and  provided  with  specially 
qualified  teachers,  would  be  the  appropriate  course  to  be  pursued  in  giv- 
ing a  proper  and  sufficient  opportunity  for  professional  education  in 
response  to  the  demand  of  the  progressive  portion  of  the  farming  popu- 
lation who  desire  to  retain  their  sons  within  their  own  immediate  sphere 
of  influence  in  the  rural  districts,  while  still  enabling  them  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  of  rational  agriculture. 

"For  the  mass  of  farmers'  boys,  some  instruction  in  agricultural 
topics  should  unquestionably  be  introduced  into  the  public  schools. 
The  most  inexpensive  and  feasible  way  to  accomplish  this  would  be  by 
means  of  periodic  visits,  by  well-qualified  agricultural  teachers,  to  schools 
in  the  rural  districts,  within  the  limits,  say,  of  a  county;  giving  short 
elementary  courses,  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  several  districts.  That 
such  elementary  teaching,  putting  applied  science  into  popular  form,  is 
more  difficult  and  requires  a  broader  grasp  on  the  subject  than  to  teach 
a  specialty  to  higher  classes,  is  a  well-known  fact. 

"  It  may  be  said  that  this  would  still  further  enhance  the  already 
heavy  burden  imposed  upon  taxpayers  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
public  schools.  To  this  I  reply  that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more 
important  duty  in  the  life  of  parents  than  the  proper  education  of  their 


—  8  — 

children  in  their  life  pursuits;  and  that  their  duty  to  them  can  hardly 
be  considered  as  fulfilled  by  the  payment  of  the  traditional  $10  to  $15 
per  annum  'per  census  child.'  There  are  a  great  number  of  other 
subjects  of  expenditure  which  they  can  better  afford  to  cut  short;  and 
it  is  certain  that  without  such  additional  provision  for  the  better  educa- 
tion of  the  farming  population  in  their  pursuit,  the  State  colleges  are 
powerless  to  bring  about  the  desired  result. 

"  The  trade  schools  now  being  established  at  many  points  in  the  United 
States,  and  of  which  two  will  belong  to  San  Francisco,  while  one  may  be 
established  in  close  connection  with  the  University,  seem  to  point  the 
way  in  which  the  desired  solution  for  the  problem  of  secondary  education 
for  the  farming  population  lies.  There  is,  however,  one  essential  differ- 
ence, inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  to  wit:  that  in  trade  schools 
the  acquisition  of  manual  dexterity  or  '  handicraft '  plays  a  prominent 
part,  while  instruction  in  principles  maj^  be  quite  simple  and  rudi- 
mentary; whereas  in  the  farmer's  pursuit  the  handicraft  is  so  readily 
acquired  that  most  boys  attain  it  more  or  less  perfectly  on  the  home 
farm  by  daily  practice,  while  the  principles  upon  which  the  operations 
of  the  farm  must  be  based  to  secure  the  best  results  are  the  main  thing 
needful  to  be  acquired  in  the  school — and,  unfortunately,  these  principles 
are  very  complex,  and  farm  practice  must  be  materially  modified  accord- 
ing to  local  conditions.  Hence  it  is  that  '  model  farms '  can  rarely 
represent  more  than  the  best  local  practice,  which  will  mislead  the 
learner  when  applied  elsewhere.  This,  in  a  country  where  the  popula- 
tion is  so  large  and  varied,  and  is  so  continually  on  the  move,  renders 
necessary  a  higher  grade  of  instruction  than  that  which  is  given  in  the 
second-grade  schools  of  Europe.  The  growth  of  such  schools  must 
almost  necessarily  be  slow  on  this  account  alone;  for  the  teachers 
qualified  for  such  instruction,  embracing  both  theory  and  practice  in  a 
nutshell,  have  still  to  be  educated  in  this  country." 

Without  the  agricultural  college  of  University  grade,  teachers  for  the 
lower  grades  could  not  be  formed.  But  naturally  the  agricultural  col- 
lege cannot  aim  to  educate  the  mass  of  farmers,  any  more  than  the  other 
departments  of  the  University  can  educate  the  population  of  the  whole 
State.  That  is  physically  impossible  in  either  case.  There  must  be 
graded  schools  in  all  departments  of  knowledge;  for  otherwise  it  is 
impracticable  to  carry  instruction  near  enough  to  the  doors  of  the 
population. 

But  clearly,  no  practicable  organization  of  an  agricultural  college, 
here  or  elsewhere,  can  provide  for  the  education  of  the  masses.  The 
masses  cannot  travel  to  it,  nor  can  the  college  be  perpetually  on  wheels; 
were  it  to  do  so  it  would  so  scatter  its  work  as  to  make  no  permanent 
impression  anywhere. 

The  agricultural  school  of  the  University  grade  is  the  first  need,  espe- 
cially in  a  new  country  where  the  best  resources  of  science  are  required  to 
study  and  conform  to  new  conditions.  It  must  educate  the  teachers,  the 
leaders  of  progress,  and  the  experts,  and  educate  these  thoroughly.  But 
no  single  institution  can  usefully  reach  the  masses  and  effect  in  agricul- 
tural instruction  what  cannot  be  accomplished  in  other  branches  of 
knowledge. 


—  9  — 


As  to  the  Farmers''  Institutes,  we  started  out  hopefully  seven  years 
ago,  with  an  allowance  of  $1,000  for  the  year's  expenses,  appropriated  by 
the  Regents  for  the  purpose.  In  our  rules  regarding  the  holding  of 
these  meetings  we  have  adopted  precisely  the  policy  maintained  by  the 
States  in  which  they  have  been  most  successful.  Accepting  the  maxim 
that  what  is  given  as  an  absolute  gratuity  is  little  valued,  we  have 
required  some  previous  manifestation  of  active  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
community  desiring  to  have  an  institute  meeting  held  among  them; 
namely,  advertising  the  program  and  providing  for  a  hall.  Failing  this, 
we  have  not  thought  ourselves  justified  in  giving  our  time  and  expenses 
of  travel  to  a  mere  corporal's  guard  whom  we  might  persuade  by  letters 
to  attend.  We  will  help  those  who  are  willing  to  help  themselves,  but 
cannot  afford  to  waste  our  efforts  on  the  indifferent.  If  the  State  were  to 
employ  a  suitable  person  to  travel  around  and  push  the  matter,  as  has 
been  done  in  some  of  the  older  States,  more  might  be  accomplished; 
but  this  is  more  than  the  University  can  do  without  direct  assistance 
from  the  State,  given  expressly  for  the  purpose. 

The  first  year  we  spent  about  $400  out  of  the  $1,000  allowed;  but 
hoping  that  a  wider  interest  would  be  manifested  the  next  year,  the 
same  appropriation  was  continued.  Again  only  a  fraction  of  the 
amount  was  actually  expended,  notwithstanding  many  appeals  made 
by  us  to  prominent  persons  in  different  parts  of  the  State.  Then  the 
Regents,  as  was  natural,  reduced  the  allowance  to  $500  per  annum,  since 
that  seemed  to  be  the  maximum  likely  to  be  required;  and  even  that 
was  not  fully  expended  that  year.  Since  then  we  find  that  in  conse- 
quence of  a  revival  of  interest  and  the  organization  of  "  Farmers'  Clubs  " 
in  Southern  California,  we  need  more  in  that  section  alone;  outside  of 
^ny  meetings  that  may  be  called  for  north  of  the  Tehachapi.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  financial  stress  now  resting  on  the  University  has  rendered 
any  supplementary  appropriations  difficult;  but  this  year  (1896)  an 
extra  effort  has  been  made  by  cutting  down  other  needed  work. 

We  cannot  persuade  ourselves  that  an  expense  of  from  $10  to  $20 
would  prevent  a  community  desiring,  and  likely  to  be  benefited  by  such 
meetings,  from  preparing  for  them  according  to  our  requirements.  Two 
representatives  of  the  University  have,  as  a  rule,  attended  them,  omitting 
their  class  exercises  for  the  time.  We  have  also  employed  outside  help 
by  paying  well-qualified  persons,  when  only  one  member  of  our  staff 
-could  attend.  We  believe  these  meetings  have  excited  considerable 
interest  and  have  been  profitable  to  those  attending;  but  much  larger 
audiences  might  have  derived  the  same  benefits.  The  subjects  that 
have  been  brought  before  them  have  certainly  been  of  considerable 
practical  interest,  and  the  discussions  and  questions  asked  have  brought 
out  many  additional  points  of  value,  not  only  to  the  audience,  but  also 
to  ourselves,  in  giving  us  an  insight  into  the  needs  of  the  several  com- 
munities in  the  way  of  information,  and  a  knowledge  of  many  facts  that, 
in  so  large  a  State  as  California,  could  only  be  otherwise  ascertained  by 
a,  systematic  agricultural  survey. 


—  10 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


As  for  the  third  line  of  our  instructional  work — the  correspondence  in 
answer  to  questions  asked — it  shows  strikingly  the  need  for  just  the 
kind  of  instruction  given  to  all  who  care  to  ask  for  it.  It  is  often  a 
most  laborious  task  to  unravel  the  unknown  and,  in  most  cases,  poorly 
described  facts  of  each  case,  upon  which  the  answer  must  be  based;  and 
it  is  curious  to  note,  in  the  correspondence  addressed  to  the  College,  the 
native  good  sense  mostly  shown  in  the  questions  asked,  marred  only  by 
the  questioner's  unacquaintance  with  the  first  principles  of  scientific 
agriculture,  which  even  a  short  course  of  school  or  college  instruction 
would  have  remedied.  Very  often,  former  students  and  graduates  of 
the  University,  who  have  at  last  brought  up  on  a  ranch,  end  their  letters 
with  regrets  that  when  studying  they  did  not  take  the  agricultural 
instead  of  some  other  course  preferred  by  them  at  the  time.  Learning 
by  driblets,  as  they  now  do  by  our  letters,  is  as  laborious  for  them  as  it 
is  to  us,  who  could  as  easily  teach  a  score  as  the  one  correspondent  to 
whom  we  write.  Yet  we  deem  the  time  so  spent  profitably  employed, 
since  it  is  our  business  to  teach  and  give  advice,  whether  to  the  few  or 
to  the  many.  Moreover,  this  correspondence  puts  the  instructors f  in 
possession  of  a  vast  number  of  facts  that,  in  their  proper  place,  fill  some 
gap  existing  in  their  knowledge  of  the  agricultural  features  of  the  State. 
For  it  is  quite  obvious  that,  so  far  as  possible,  they  should  teach,  not 
only  what  should  be  done  in  certain  supposititious  cases,  but  what,  in 
fact  and  in  practice,  are  the  problems  students  will  have  to  deal  with  in 
their  own  State. 

Need  of  an  Agricultural  Survey. — But  in  order  to  do  this  we  must  be  in 
possession  of  these  facts,  and  unfortunately  this  is  the  case  as  yet  but 
to  a  limited  extent,  since  we  have  not,  and  never  have  had,  the  means  for 
carrying  out  a  systematic  agricultural  survey  of  the  State.  The  miners 
have  the  Mining  Bureau  for  that  purpose  in  connection  with  their  in- 
dustry; but  the  farmer  is  left  to  his  own  devices,  to  find  his  way  as  best 
he  may;  and  we  grope  along  gathering  driblets  of  information  here  and 
there,  and  gradually,  tentatively  putting  them  together  into  a  more  or 
less  connected  whole. 

All  the  facts  that  bear  upon  soil  quality  are  entered  on  a  map  as  they 
come  in,  and  out  of  this  mosaic  we  gradually  obtain  something  like  a 
connected  picture,  which  serves  us  to  make  shrewd  conjectures  as  re- 
gards points  not  directly  covered  by  our  information.  It  is  a  slow  and 
unsatisfactory  mode  of  work,  but  it  is  all  we  can  do  at  present. 

Examinations  of  Soils  and  Waters.— It  is  one  of  the  superstitions  of 
many  of  those  who  ask  for  information,  that  they  imagine  us  to  be  able 
to  determine  what  they  want  to  know  from,  say,  a  thimblef nl  of  soil,  a 
gill  of  water,  or  two  or  three  fruits  sent  for  analysis.  It  is  hardly  nec- 
essary to  insist  that  we  work  by  common  sense  and  thorough  observation, 
and  not  by  guesswork  and  jumping  at  conclusions;  and  that  we  cannot 
deduce  correct  conclusions  from  samples  incorrectly  or  carelessly  taken, 
and  sent  to  us  without  an  intelligible  account  of  their  mode  of  occur- 
rence and  natural  conditions. 

The  frequent  requests  for  the  examination  of  soils  with  a  view  to- 
determining  their  permanent  value  for  various  cultures  adapted  to  local 


—  11  — 

climates,  prove  the  great  need  of  such  investigations,  and  involve  a  great 
deal  of  very  difficult  work,  which  embraces  not  only  the  chemical  and 
physical  properties  of  the  soil,  but  also  a  full  consideration  of  the  conditions 
of  the  subsoil,  drainage,  "lay,"  and  local  climatic  factors.  Yet  there  is 
hardly  another  question  so  vitally  important  to  the  settlement  of  the 
State  and  the  prosperity  of  the  farmer,  since  in  thousands  of  cases  his 
substance  is  wasted  upon  lands  intrinsically  unsuited  to  his  purposes, 
not  to  mention  some  colonization  schemes  that  have  resulted  in  the 
utter  bankruptcy  of  the  colonists;  partly  from  their  ignorance,  partly  from 
intentional  fraud  on  the  part  of  the  originators  of  the  enterprise.  It  is 
in  this  connection  particularly  that  the  lack  of  an  agricultural  survey  of 
the  State  becomes  painfully  felt;  the  reports  and  samples  sent  us  are 
frequently,  and  sometimes  unavoidably,  very  imperfect,  and  leave  a  great 
deal  of  room  for  conjecture  and  therefore  for  error.  For  this  reason  a 
special  chapter  in  the  Report  for  1893-94  has  been  given  to  directions 
for  land  examination,  with  the  hope  that  many  farmers  might  thus  be 
enabled  to  determine  for  themselves  at  least  the  chief  faults  that  may 
render  certain  lands  undesirable  for  their  purposes.  Printed  directions 
for  taking  samples  properly  representing  lands  under  consideration,  are 
mailed  to  applicants  for  such  information.  These  samples  are  then  sub- 
jected to  such  examination,  including  physical  and  chemical  analysis 
when  necessary,  as  may  be  required  to  determine  their  value,  faults,  or 
virtues. 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  staff  of  the  Station  is  quite  unequal  to  the 
demands  made  upon  it  for  work  of  this  character,  which  should  be 
made  the  subject  of  a  special  survey,  on  behalf  of  the  State.  At  this 
time  our  collection  of  California  soils  embraces  about  1,900  samples, 
representing  most  of  the  more  important  agricultural  sections. 

Irrigation  waters  also  form  a  considerable  item  in  the  examinations 
asked  for;  and  being  usually  of  wide  public  importance,  the  Station  has 
thus  far  complied  unhesitatingly  with  such  requests,  as  is  shown  in  our 
reports.  The  demand  for  the  examination  of  waters  for  domestic  use, 
though  of  wide  importance  in  this  State  where  saline  waters  are  so  com- 
mon and  their  use  so  frequently  injurious  to  the  health  of  man  and 
beast,  has  become  so  great  that  it  has  become  necessary  to  restrict  the 
work  to  the  most  needful  points,  and  to  exclude  many  cases  apparently 
of  purely  private  interest,  such  as  mineral  waters.  Still  it  is  clear  that 
good  water  for  domestic  and  irrigation  use  is  scarcely  second  in  impor- 
tance to  the  soil  itself,  and  should  receive  its  share  of  attention. 

Insect  Pests  and  Plant  Diseases. — One  of  the  prominent  subjects  of 
inquiry,  and  often  accompanied  by  samples,  is  the  determination  of  insect 
pests  and  plant  diseases  of  all  kinds,  with  request  for  prescription  of 
remedies.  As  a  general  answer  to  many  such  requests,  a  short  "  special 
bulletin  "  has  been  issued;  and  our  reports  give  general  advice  about  dis- 
covering insect  depredators  and  how  to  treat  them.  But  a  large  number 
of  cases  require  special  correspondence  and  investigation,  and  not 
infrequently,  visits  to  the  spot.  In  this  connection  the  examination 
of  insecticides  commercially  sold  has  involved  a  great  deal  of  labor, 
and  has,  in  many  cases,  led  to  the  discovery  of  extensive  adulterations 
(as  in  the  case  of  Paris  green,  "concentrated  lye,"  and  others);  the 
publications  of  the  facts  being  followed  by  peremptory  demand  for  pure 
articles  on  the  part  of  the  buyers. 


—  12  — 

Fertilizer- Examination. — It  has  been  found  impracticable  to  extend 
such  examinations  to  the  commercial  fertilizers  sold  in  our  markets, 
because  the  reports  given  in  the  case  of  samples  found  in  accordance 
with  guarantee  were  often  used  to  cover  the  entire  "brand,"  for  the 
purity  of  which,  in  the  absence  of  State  inspection,  the  Station  had  no 
guarantee  whatever.  Until  a  fertilizer-control  law  is  enacted,  the 
Station  cannot  undertake  to  intervene,  save  in  cases  of  gross  adulteration 
brought  to  our  notice  by  consumers. 


CENTRAL  STATION  WORK. 

Distribution  of  Seeds,  Plants,  and  Scions. — The  branch  of  the  work  of 
our  Station  which  relates  to  the  introduction  and  trial  of  economic 
plants  from  all  parts  of  the  world  is  steadily  advancing,  and  command- 
ing wider  public  interest.  Our  plan  of  distributing  to  volunteer  experi- 
menters, plants  or  seeds  of  those  growths  which  seem  most  promising 
after  trial  upon  the  grounds  of  our  own  stations,  seems  to  commend  itself 
more  and  more  each  year  to  the  people  of  the  State.  The  increasing  popu- 
lar interest  in  the  distribution  is  also  seen  in  the  fact  that  1,487  appli- 
cants were  supplied  with  seeds  and  plants  in  1896,  as  compared  with  925 
in  1895.  Material  was  sent  to  applicants  at  382  post  offices  in  53 
counties  of  California.  We  desire  extension  of  this  interest,  and  of  the 
territory  (mainly  within  the  State  of  California)  served  by  the  distri- 
bution, because  the  data  thus  secured  by  wider  local  trials  enable  us  to 
more  accurately  determine  the  adaptations  and  values  of  the  plants 
which  we  introduce.  We  desire,  however,  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  we 
do  not  maintain  a  free  distribution,  nor  do  we  conduct  a  seed  business, 
nor  can  we  undertake  to  supply  any  miscellaneous  seeds  or  plants  which 
the  applicant  may  desire.  This  is  a  function  of  the  seed  trade  which 
we  have  no  desire  to  assume.  We  always  welcome  suggestions  of 
growths  from  those  who  have  observed  them  locally  or  abroad,  and  such 
suggestions  we  are  often  able  to  turn  to  practical  account  through  syste- 
matic trial,  and  subsequent  distribution,  if  our  results  warrant  it.  We 
require  the  applicant  to  pay  a  small  amount  for  each  thing  received, 
partly  to  bear  the  cost  of  distribution,  but  chiefly  as  a  guaranty  that 
he  has  not  merely  an  idle  desire  for  what  can  be  had  for  nothing,  but 
intends  to  make  trials  for  a  definite  end,  and  will  report  results  to  us. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  in  a  brief  paragraph  even  an  outline  of  this 
important  work,  which  has  proceeded  with  increasing  popularity  for  the 
last  eighteen  years.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  distribution  has 
included  forest  and  ornamental  trees  in  great  variety,  cereals  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  dry-land  grasses  and  forage  plants  from  other  arid 
regions  everywhere,  grapevines  from  Europe  and  Asia,  olive  varieties 
from  the  most  famous  districts  of  South  European  countries,  garden 
plants  in  large  variety,  etc.  In  this  large  list,  of  which  our  reports  give 
full  details  of  trial  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  perhaps  the  most  striking 
success  is  the  Australian  saltbush  for  alkali  soils;  first  demonstrated  at 
the  Tulare  culture  sub-station.  This  plant  has  peerless  adaptation  for 
growing  on  soils  too  alkaline  to  support  any  other  useful  growth.  So 
strongly  are  owners  of  alkaline  lands  impressed  with  this  fact  that 
thousands  of  acres  were  sown  last  winter.     Enthusiastic  correspondents 


—  13  — 

write  us  that  the  trial  and  announcement  of  the  suitability  of  this  plant 
are  worth  more  to  California  than  all  the  money  the  University  Experi- 
ment Stations  have  cost  from  their  beginning.  The  introduction  of  this 
plant  to  owners  of  waste  alkali  lands  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  striking 
achievements  in  our  long  continued  policy  of  trial  and  distribution  of 
economic  plants. 

Analyses  of  Agricultural  Products. — As  a  guide  to  intelligent  fertiliza- 
tion for  the  maintenance  of  production,  and  also  for  the  determination 
of  the  food  values  of  the  several  fruits  and  field  crops,  extensive  series 
of  analyses  of  these  materials  have  been  carried  out  by  the  Station. 
Contrary  to  the  general  impression,  such  investigations  have  thus  far 
been  made  only  to  a  very  limited  extent  so  far  as  our  chief  fruits  are 
concerned  ;  so  that  reliable  averages  could  not  be  deduced  from  the  data 
on  record.  This  was  found  to  be  eminently  true  as  regards,  especially, 
citrus  fruits,  olives,  and  nuts,  the  products  of  southern  climates;  and 
even  the  apricot  and  prune  could  not  be  said  to  be  fairly  represented 
as  yet.  Our  very  first  results  in  this  line  showed  serious  differences 
between  the  composition  of  most  of  our  fruits  and  those  analyzed  else- 
where; in  respect  to  the  oil-contents  of  various  kinds  of  olives,  the 
record  was  almost  a  blank;  the  nutritive  value  of  California  prunes  and 
apricots  was  found  to  exceed  materially  that  recorded  elsewhere.  We 
have  thus  filled  numerous  serious  gaps  in  the  knowledge  of  many  of 
our  products,  but  a  great  deal  yet  remains  to  be  done. 

Besides  the  fruits,  many  analyses  of  cattle  feeds,  sugar  beets,  etc.,  are 
constantly  being  made,  in  many  cases  showing  unexpected  results 
important  for  practical  use. 

Viticultural  Work. — Last,  but  not  least,  the  viticultural  work  of  the  Sta- 
tion requires  notice.  It  was  established  as  a  special  feature  of  our  work 
in  1880,  by  the  same  Act  that  created  the  State  Viticultural  Commis- 
sion. It  provided  only  for  laboratory  work,  but  authorized  the  Regents 
to  accept  donations  of  land  for  experimental  vineyards.  In  pursuance 
of  the  latter  provision,  a  number  of  experimental  plots  were  established 
under  private  auspices;  and  from  these  a  large  amount  of  important 
material  and  data  was  derived,  as  is  shown  by  our  reports.  But  the 
difficulties  of  carrying  on  exact  work  under  the  simultaneous  pressure 
of  the  private  work  and  interests  of  a  vineyard  and  winery,  were  found 
to  interpose  serious  obstacles;  so  that  when  it  became  possible  to  estab- 
lish culture  stations  under  our  direct  and  exclusive  control,  all  but  one 
of  the  stations  under  private  auspices  were  abandoned.  The  object  of 
this  work  was,  of  course,  to  determine  the  varieties  of  grapes  best 
adapted  to  various  purposes,  in  the  various  climatic  and  soil  regions  of 
the  State,  both  in  the  vineyard  and  (as  to  their  wine-making  qualities) 
in  vinification,  on  a  (necessarily)  small  scale,  in  the  viticultural  labora- 
tory at  the  University.  These  were  among  the  most  essential  questions 
to  be  settled,  since  grapes  from  all  grape-growing  countries  in  the  world 
had  been  almost  indiscriminately  planted  anywhere  in  the  State,  pro- 
ducing nondescript  wines,  unacceptable  in  commerce,  and  too  frequently 
poorly  made,  seriously  damaging  the  reputation  of  California  wines  in 
the  world's  markets.  Other  outside  and  especially  winery  work,  having 
been  put  in  charge  of  the  Viticultural  Commission,  was  not  attempted 
by  us  until,  the  Commission  having  been  abolished  by  legislative  Act 


—  14  — 

in  1894,  its  technical  work  was  turned  over  to  the  University,  with  a 
very  limited  appropriation  (about  one  fifth  of  that  granted  to  the  Viti- 
cultural  Commission).  That  portion  of  the  work  has  but  just  begun  in 
our  hands. 

The  result  of  the  laboratory  work  has  been  to  establish  a  definite 
basis  for  rational  wine-production  in  this  State,  by  determining  both 
the  cultural  and  wine-making  qualities  of  all  the  more  important  grape- 
varieties  in  the  several  regions  where  our  stations  were,  or  are  now 
located.  It  is  true  that  the  depression  under  which  the  wine  interest 
has  labored  for  a  number  of  years  past,  has  prevented  viticulturists 
from  availing  themselves,  to  any  great  extent,  of  the  guiding  facts  estab- 
lished by  us;  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  in  future  undertakings  of  this 
kind,  as  well  as  in  any  rational  winery  practice  in  the  immediate  future, 
these  facts  will  have  to  be  taken  into  definite  consideration  if  the 
product  is  to  be  as  good  as  it  can  be  made  under  local  conditions; 
and  as  competition  as  well  as  the  critical  judging  of  wines  make  them- 
selves more  plainly  felt,  such  practice  must  inevitably  take  precedence 
of  the  haphazard,  irrational  modes  of  procedure  that  have  so  largely 
prevailed  heretofore.  Our  work  in  this  line  represents  the  largest  and 
most  complete  systematic  investigation  of  the  kind  on  record  thus  far 
in  any  country. 


THE    CULTURE    WORK    OF    THE    EXPERIMENT     STATIONS. 

The  portion  of  this  work  connected  with  our  extended  correspondence 
has  already  been  referred  to;  it  combines  instruction  and  experimental 
work,  whether  on  samples  sent,  or  on  conditions  described  by  the  writers, 
sometimes  well,  sometimes  poorly;  sometimes  with  the  purpose  of 
having  fault  to  find  with  us  for  not  knowing,  or  being  able  to  divine,  by 
official  afflatus,  what  they  have  failed  to  tell  us  about  their  conditions, 
in  a  State  750  miles  long  by  200  miles  wide,  embracing  within  its  limits 
about  a  score  of  climates.  This,  of  course,  is  a  cheap  method  of  fault- 
finding. But  it  is  an  inevitable  incident  to  what  I  consider  the  primary 
duty  of  experiment  stations  in  the  newer  States;  namely,  to  direct  their 
work,  not  so  much  toward  the  further  study  of  the  questions  that  occupy 
the  stations  in  the  East  and  in  Europe,  but  more  particularly  toward 
the  solution  of  problems  encountered  by  the  settler  in  a  new  country, 
whose  very  seasons  are  unfamiliar  to  the  Eastern  immigrant,  and  where 
agricultural  practice  must  be  shaped  on  wholly  different  lines,  and  very 
many  of  the  old  landmarks  fail.  Thus,  in  the  East,  "poor  sandy  soil " 
has  passed  into  an  axiom;  in  California,  many  of  the  richest  and  most 
durable  lands  are  of  this  very  character,  only  the  sand  is  of  a  very 
different  nature.  "  Subsoil  "  is  here,  in  very  many  cases,  non-existant 
in  the  Eastern  sense,  which  deprecates  the  turning  up  of  that  layer  as 
damaging  to  the  crop  prospects  for  the  season.  The  natural  faults  of 
lands  here  are  as  different  as  their  virtues,  in  many  ways.  All  these 
are  matters  of  first  importance  where  new  lands  are  constantly  being 
occupied,  where  the  agricultural  possibilities  of  millions  of  acres  are 
still  in  question,  and  therefore  new  problems  are  constantly  encountered. 
It  requires  time  to  study  these  things,  and  we  cannot  carry  on  this 
work,  and  such  as  is  done  in  the  Old  World  stations,  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  with  the  limited  means  at  our  command.     We  cannot,  for. instance, 


—  15  — 

prosecute  a  series  of  fertilizer  experiments,  which  are  mainly  of  local 
interest,  while  leaving  aside  the  larger  problems  upon  which  the  settle- 
ment and  progress  of  the  State  primarily  depend. 

Our  outlying  sub-stations  were  established  with  the  primary  object 
of  studying  the  success  of  various  promising  culture  plants  under  the 
climatic  and  soil  conditions  of  the  respective  sections;  the  location  being 
selected  with  care  so  as  to  be,  as  nearly  as  possible,  representative  of 
the  predominant  conditions  of  an  important  region.  As  it  is  rarely 
possible  to  get  more  than  two  or  three  out  of  the  numerous  soils  of  one 
region  within  the  limits  of  the  station  grounds,  and  as  these  are  especially 
selected  as  virgin  ground,  it  is  of  necessity  the  chief  object  to  determine 
their  behavior  under  culture  with  the  various  crops,  in  their  natural 
condition.  And  as  few  fresh  soils,  at  least  in  California,  can  be  expected 
to  respond  remuneratively  to  fertilization,  it  is  useless  to  attempt  such 
tests  there.  Fertilization  tests  must  be  made  where  the  land  has  become 
at  least  partially  depleted;  and,  taking  the  State  as  a  whole,  this  as  yet 
happens  only  in  exceptional  cases.  Of  course,  we  give  our  assistance  in 
these  lines  as  far  as  can  be  done  without  actual  possession  of  the  land, 
and  personal  supervision;  but  we  cannot  hold  ourselves  responsible  for 
all  the  mistakes  made  in  the  statements  of  cases  in  the  application  of 
fertilizers,  and  in  the  observation  of  the  results.  Such  experiments 
being,  moreover,  mainly  of  local  interest,  in  their  application  to  a  par- 
ticular soil  from  which  that  even  of  the  next  field  may  differ  very 
materially,  cannot  claim  precedence  over  questions  of  general  interest. 

The  Central  Station  at  Berkeley  was  the  first  established,  and  is  the 
oldest  in  the  United  States.  As  the  land  there  had  been  cultivated  to 
grain  for  thirty  years  before,  we  at  once  set  about  making  fertilizer  tests, 
which  were  continued  for  four  or  five  years.  We  soon  determined  what 
would  and  would  not  pay  on  those  soils;  but  it  gave  us  not  the  slightest 
clew  to  what  would  be  needed  elsewhere.  We  tried  to  get  Granges  and 
local  clubs  to  make  trials  on  "  tired  lands  "  elsewhere,  but  found  this  a 
very  difficult  and  unsatisfactory  matter.  From  the  first  it  was  insisted 
in  our  reports  to  the  Regents  that  culture  stations  must  be  established 
in  other  parts  of  the  State,  in  order  to  observe  the  behavior  of  culture 
plants  in  the  several  climatic  regions;  but  no  funds  were  available  for 
the  purpose  until  the  "Hatch  Experiment  Station  Bill"  supplied  the 
sum  of  $15,000  per  annum  for  experimental  purposes.  From  this  fund 
have  been  established  and  carried  to  their  present  development  the  four 
culture  sub-stations  located,  respectively,  in  the  Chino  Valley,  near  Paso 
Robles,  near  Tulare,  and  in  the  Sierra  foothills  in  Amador  County. 
We  found  that  after  these  had  been  equipped,  it  was  nut  practicable  to 
establish  additional  stations  in  the  regions  still  unrepresented,  as  the 
running  expenses  and  the  elaboration  and  discussion  of  their  results 
at  the  Central  Station  (which  itself  is,  however,  carried  on  at  the 
expense  of  the  University)  would  not  permit  of  the  maintenance  of 
more  stations.  Aside  from  these  four  stations,  the  two  forestry  stations 
lately  turned  over  to  us  by  the  abolition  of  the  Forestry  Commission, 
are  maintained  out  of  the  very  inadequate  appropriation  of  $2,500  per 
annum  for  both  made  therefor  by  the  State.  A  similar  sum  is  appro- 
priated by  the  State  for  work  in  viticulture  since  the  abolition  of  the 
Viticultural  Commission;  and  this,  with  the  vineyards  already  in  bear- 
ing at  the  several  stations,  and  the  opportunity  we  now  for  the  first  time 


—  16  -- 

have  of  traveling  in  the  grape-growing  regions,  and  making  winery 
experiments,  will  enable  us  to  do  a  good  deal  of  work  in  that  line 
hereafter. 

Five  culture  stations  to  represent  this  State  is,  of  course,  quite  inade- 
quate to  do  justice  to  all  sections,  but  it  is  all  we  can  do  with  the  funds 
at  our  disposal. 

Results  Obtained  in  Culture  Station  Work. — It  has,  of  course,  taken 
time  to  bring  these  culture  stations  into  bearing,  as  it  would  on  any 
farm.  They  are  just  now  arriving  at  their  full  stage  of  usefulness,  and 
will  be  heard  from  much  more  frequently  hereafter  than  has  been  the 
case  heretofore.  Yet  we  have  already  achieved  some  valuable  results; 
the  Tulare  station,  in  particular,  has  yielded  us  facts  in  regard  to  the 
possibility  and  methods  of  reclaiming  our  alkali  lands,  that  were  hardly 
foreseen  when  it  was  established,  and  active  work  in  that  line  is  being 
done  both  there  and  at  the  Chino  tract,  that  will  be  of  great  impor- 
tance in  the  future.  Contrary  to  the  opinions  held  all  over  the  world, 
and  originally  by  myself  on  that  point,  experiments  at  the  Chino  tract, 
following  the  experiences  of  the  beet-growers,  have  shown  that  high-grade 
sugar  beets  can  be  grown  on  land  containing  a  considerable  amount  of 
a  certain  kind  of  alkali;  which  logically  determines  the  adaptability  to 
that  culture  of  tens  of  thousands  of  acres  elsewhere  heretofore  sup- 
posed to  be  of  little  use  and  value.  A  detailed  account  of  these  investi- 
gations is  given  in  our  last  report. 

We  have  also  proved  the  perfect  adaptability  of  at  least  one  of  the 
Australian  saltbushes  to  all  but  the  strongest  of  our  alkali  lands,  and 
the  fact  that  all  kinds  of  stock  will  eat  this  herbage  with  relish  and 
profit.  Few  persons  who  have  not  paid  special  attention  to  the  enormous 
extent  to  which  alkali  prevails  in  some  sections  of  the  State,  have  any 
idea  how  much  these  investigations  mean  for  the  settlement  of  some  of 
its  most  attractive  farming  lands. 

At  the  stations  near  Paso  Robles  and  in  the  Foothills,  as  well  as  espe- 
cially at  Tulare,  we  have  shown  the  special  adaptation  and  non-adapta- 
tion of  a  multitude  of  fruit  varieties,  regarding  which  the  farmers  were 
completely  at  sea.  The  studies  made  of  olives  grown  at  these  several 
stations  have  shown  most  important  facts  regarding  the  oil-contents  of 
the  same  variety  at  different  points,  and  of  the  different  varieties  at  the 
same  point;  showing  differences  great  enough  to  throw  the  balance  of 
profit  or  loss  to  the  grower  far  to  one  or  the  other  side,  and  thus  saving 
the  cost  of  the  grafting-over  of  whole  orchards. 

The  extensive  orchards  and  vineyards  established  at  the  culture  sta- 
tions, and  every  year  enlarged  from  the  most  authoritative  sources,  deserve 
especial  comment.  Horticulture  in  California  has  greatly  needed  such 
collections,  correct  in  nomenclature,  pedigreed  and  registered  so  as  to 
form  the  standard  in  cases  of  dispute.  The  extreme  difficulty  of  creating 
reliable  collections  is  understood  by  few  persons;  it  is  not  enough  to 
obtain  an  apple  scion  from  the  orchards  even  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  but  every  step  of  its  progress  must  be  watched  by  intelligent 
skill,  and  when  it  fruits  a  competent  pomologist  must  determine  its  cor- 
rectness. Our  collections,  already  unique  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  are 
certainly  larger  than  any  others  in  America  in  such  departments  as 
olives,  walnuts,  prunes,  European  grapes,  apricots,  almonds,  and  many 
other  important  classes.     The  climatic  problems  presented  in  many  parts 


—  17  — 

of  California— problems  unsuspected  by  early  orchardists — require  the 
culture  stations  to  search  diligently  for  the  very  hardiest  as  well  as  for 
the  more  tender  fruits.  In  no  other  American  State,  or  hardly  in  any 
ten  others,  are  the  requirements  in  this  respect  so  exacting.  The  value 
of  these  trial  orchards  and  vineyards  will  steadily  increase  for  years  to 
come,  creating  centers  of  distribution,  correcting  faulty  nomenclature, 
and  offering  abundant  materials  for  the  creation  of  new  varieties. 

Painstaking  experiments  with  the  cereals,  with  forage  plants,  with 
cotton  and  other  textiles,  with  root  crops,  and  with  hundreds  of  small 
but  useful  cultures,  are  reported  in  the  various  bulletins  and  annual 
volumes  issued  by  this  department.  We  have  every  evidence  that  the 
value  of  this  work  is  appreciated  by  the  classes  most  concerned.  The 
increasing  number  of  visitors,  the  enlarged  local  correspondence  with 
our  foremen,  the  great  and  growing  local  demand  for  seeds,  scipns,  roots, 
publications,  etc.,  all  illustrate  the  hold  which  the  culture  stations  have 
upon  the  public.  Devoted  as  they  are  to  good  practice  as  well  as  to 
sound  theory,  it  is  gratifying  to  find  in  many  instances  that  the  every- 
day practice  of  the  sub- stations  in  preparing  the  soil  for  a  hay  crop,  or 
in  cultivating  the  orchard  in  times  of  drought,  has  excited  general 
interest,  and  won  the  strongest  local  approbation.  We  are  often  told 
"  You  farm  better  than  any  one  else  in  the  district."  Our  best  foremen 
are  justly  becoming  men  of  mark  among  the  tillers  of  the  soil,  and  if 
any  fall  below  the  high  standard  required — the  happy  combination  of 
theory  and  practice — their  places  are  filled  by  others  more  competent 
and  more  progressive. 

The  American  public  is  the  most  impatient  in  the  world  for  results  in 
every  enterprise.  They  are  unwilling  to  wait  for  a  timber  tree  to  mature 
unless  it  can  be  accomplished  within  their  own  lifetime,  be  the  certainty  of 
the  ultimate  profit  ever  so  great.  Yet,  agricultural  experiments  of  short 
duration  are  simply  worthless  as  proving  either  positives  or  negatives. 
Seasonal  variations  are  so  incisive  and  so  potent  that  the  utmost  caution 
is  necessary  in  coming  to  sweeping  conclusions.  Any  one  can  for  a  time 
make  a  showing  of  success  by  jumping  to  conclusions;  but  the  test  of 
time  alone  can  decide  whether  or  not  he  is  dealing  with  delusions.  In 
no  other  line  of  experimentation  are  the  conditions  of  an  experiment  so 
complex  and  so  difficult  to  control;  in  no  other  are  the  results  so  fre- 
quently the  outcome  of  a  totally  different  cause  from  the  one  purposely 
introduced  into  the  experiment,  and  therefore  wholly  inapplicable  to 
any  but  the  particular  case  in  hand. 

What  we  need  in  our  work  is  more  of  cordial  and  intelligent  coopera- 
tion and  less  of  cheap,  captious  criticism.  The  field  we  are  expected 
to  cover  is  so  vast  that  our  means  of  covering  it  in  all  its  details  are 
wholly  inadequate.  We  do  not  pretend  to  know,  from  official  inspira- 
tion, all  the  complex  conditions  that  may  surround  some  apparently 
very  simple  problem  somewhere  in  the  great  State  of  California. 
Neither,  probably,  does  any  one  else;  least  of  all  those  who  come  to  a 
conclusion  as  quick  as  they  put  their  eyes  upon  it.  The  farmers  must 
help  us  to  ferret  out  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  such  questions,  and  with 
correct  information  we  will  do  the  best  that  can  be  done  in  our  present 
state  of  knowledge.  But  it  is  an  old  story  that  it  is  easy  to  ask  more 
questions  than  seven  or  any  other  number  of  wise  men  can  answer: 
and  a  great  many  such  questions  come  to  us. 


